Patriots rent Mike Vrabel as head coach, changing Jerod Mayo – NBC Boston

The New England Patriots have moved shortly to seek out their subsequent head coach, and the end result wasn’t a shock in any respect.

Mike Vrabel is returning to Foxboro to be the sixteenth head coach in franchise historical past. He’ll change Jerod Mayo, who was fired shortly after the staff’s Week 18 win over the Buffalo Payments. Mayo lasted just one season within the position. The Patriots have completed 4-13 every of the final two seasons.

NFL Community’s Ian Rapoport and our Tom E. Curran (amongst others) reported the information on Sunday morning and the staff later confirmed.

The Patriots are hoping Vrabel’s teaching profession in New England might be simply as profitable as his time as a participant. Vrabel was a linebacker in Invoice Belichick’s protection from 2001 by 2008 and performed a key position in three Tremendous Bowl-winning groups.

Vrabel was inducted into the Patriots Corridor of Fame in 2023.

After spending two years with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, he retired following the 2010 season and shortly moved into teaching, taking jobs with Ohio State (2011-13) and the Houston Texans (2014-17) earlier than touchdown his first head coach place with the Tennessee Titans in 2018.

Vrabel spent six seasons as Titans head coach earlier than being fired in 2023. He led the Titans to the playoffs 3 times, together with a 2019 AFC Championship Recreation look, however Tennessee didn’t make the postseason in his ultimate two years in cost.

The problem dealing with Vrabel is big. The Patriots roster arguably is the worst within the league. Nonetheless, the staff does personal the No. 4 decide within the 2025 NFL Draft and has probably the most wage cap area (round $130 million) coming into free company. The Patriots even have a quarterback with star potential in Drake Maye.

It stays to be seen what different teaching and/or entrance workplace adjustments might be made with Vrabel’s hiring official. Will he herald his personal offensive coordinator, or will Alex Van Pelt keep? And what about defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington?

There’s lots extra work for the Patriots to do as this vitally vital offseason continues, however they acted swiftly to discover a new head coach: The staff performed interviews with simply three different candidates — Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich and ex-Houston Texans OC Pep Hamilton — earlier than hiring Vrabel.